What your emotions are trying to tell you
A few days ago I had an important interview and right before the start I began to feel nervous. Pretty common I guess, but why? Why did my body decide to start shaking like a maraca when all I needed was to be focused?
Because it was sending me a message: “Don’t fuck it up, this is important!”
Emotions are essentially messages from our limbic system (emotional brain) that try to help us navigate through life.
The problem is that those messages are in another language and we need to translate them in order to understand their meaning.
And that’s why I’ve created this simple emotional-rational dictionary that covers some of the most common emotions we experience:
Admiration – “Wow, that person has something you really want”
Boredom – “This is going nowhere, there’s nothing interesting here, find something else, be creative!”
Envy – “See, that person has something you really want and still don’t have… idiot”
Fear – “Prepare yourself, be aware and don’t do stupid things, there’s something at a stake here”
Frustration – “You’re not making enough progress. Maybe try a different approach?”
Grief – “You’ve lost something of great value”
Guilt – “Don’t do that again, ever”
Hurt, Disappointment, Sadness – “An expectation that you had, has not been met or will not be met”
Joy - “Life is amaaaaazing when you do this!”
Loneliness – “Hey! Hello? Yes, you. You’ve been disconnected for way too long, go and find some real people”
Love – “There’s something incredible about that thing/this person, spend more time with it/them”
Overload (overwhelm, hopelessness, depression…) – “This situation is unsustainable, do something now!”
Pride – “Wow! That effort you put in… great job!”
Am I missing an important one? Just reply to this email or leave a comment and, if my emotions tell me to, I’ll add it to the list.